Saturday, April 02, 2005

ODI #1

Its been Sehwag all the way in the Indian innings...he seems to have so much time, and plays so late, that he makes medium place look like spin ! Imagine repeated late cuts at 135 kph deliveries !!

And he is now batting at 100...mainly against the 'conditions' as commentators put it. Actually Sehwag 'appealed' for a drinnks break at the end of 31st over...ump refused :-)....and he was playing at 99 then ! Imagine the desperation !!

And Sachin, Gang got out on consecutive balls...I hope not much if made of Gang bad form...Sehwag was also dropped first ball.....one needs time to settle down....getting anyone early is easier.

2 Comments:

Himanshu said...

Ganguly Da wud really be happy to know that there are still some of his supporters like u out there.. :) but time is really running out for him...Indian middle order disappointed once again..meager 60 runs in last 15 overs...it's really disheartening.....upto some extent credit of winning the first match goes to Pak...had Pakis batted sensibly, result cud have been different....wat do u say? Is it really a earned victory for India???

Why is the time running out for Ganguly only ?? In ODIs he has been making runs (much more than many others...Sehwag, Kaif, Yuv, even Sachin to some extent, Dravid were all out of form before this series!!) So, should time running out start with just two matches !! And in tests, read my earlier article on why Ganguly should be given lots of more time.

Yes India did slow down in last few overs, but that was not Ganguly's fault (only). Actually the conditions were so difficult, and so new, that they did not have a plan for it. Ideally when Yuv/Kaif/Dhoni were coming inthen dravid should have started hitting rather than anchoring. He did not realise that he would have no energy to either anchor or hit later on. It would have been much better with him hitting then, giving others time to settle (Yuv etc pershed trying to hit).

But, having said all that, its still great that India reached that many runs, with such bad conditions. And Rana also bowled well (even in second match). He seems to be such an improved ODI bowler after VB series ! I remember thinking his career wud be over soon when Sehwag etc had thrashed him in the ODI series in Pak :-)

And about Pak loosing rather than India winning, ODI matches are mostly decided this way. Aus wins most of their matches through mental strength. Remember even in World Cup they should have lost against Pak, Eng, NZ...they looked hopelessly out, and then won ! Only some matches are won purely by one sides brilliance.

And by the way, Sachin's bowling was a huge contributor in Pak not being able to win it. It simply shows that most Pak batsmen are not 'talented' enough to adapt to such a new strategy. It took them whole series (last year) to understand and adapt to Pathan style of bowling. It will take them a lot of time in this series to understand this Sachin strategy (already second ODI they again struggled against him !)

Ganguly's captaincy also looks to be improving, specially in ODIs. A lot more creative these days !